Kentucky Fried Chicken's new Double Down sandwich is being hailed as yet another sign of American ingenuity, and as a new low in the junk food blight that's made obesity an epidemic

This undated product image provided by KFC shows their new Double Down sandwich. The Double Down is essentially a sandwich with two chicken filets taking the place of bread slices. In between are two pieces of bacon, melted slices of Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese and a zesty sauce.

BRIAN MERCHANT, TreeHugger.com: “Whether people flock to order this particular food-thing doesn't matter. It raises KFC's profile as a place that bucks common values — somewhere where you can head if you're tired of caring about what you eat, and ingest the biggest, most fattening item imaginable, surrounded by peers who are in on the ‘joke.' ”

KIM CONTE, CafeMom.com: “All the attention given to really gross food monstrosities like the Double Down is causing us to be desensitized to the less offensive yet still unhealthy, obesity-causing fast food items. In effect, we're convincing ourselves that we are doing our bodies a favor by turning down the Double Down in favour of a bucket o' chicken and mashed potatoes slathered in gravy.”

JONATHAN BENDER, Pitch.com: “The Double Down is about portability, which is where KFC has placed the bulk of its innovation the past several years. You can't eat a chicken breast while driving, but you can probably manage a sandwich made of two boneless chicken breast filets. This comes after wraps and snackers and the repackaging of boneless tenders.”

RAYNE MONDAY, FireDogLake.com: “Ugh, my arteries are screaming as I scan the collection of photos at PicFog taken by the gullible members of our species who chose to risk their futures and their wallets by purchasing and eating one of these things. It's with the same need for gruesome gore which drives us to seek out bloody horror movies that I'm drawn to view this train wreck.”

SAM SIFTON, NYTimes.com: “Stunt food has been a part of restaurant life probably since the first time a chef put a napkin over a customer's head in order to serve him a whole, rare, roasted ortolan. There have been deep-fried candy bars, and General Tso's chicken heroes. There have been steaks so large that they're free if you can finish them. Some of these are redeemable in both their excess and flavour. The ‘Double Down,' however, arrives at a new low.”

JONATHAN KAUFFMAN, SFWeekly.com: “The worse we in the blue-state media declare the sandwich is, the better its reputation among the daredevils who are going to order the thing to prove, well, something.”

MARK MORFORD, SFGate.com: “It's just capitalism at work. If they don't really want it — if, deep down, most humans sense this garbage is hugely unhealthy, that it's a form of slow poison and there are far better and wiser options out there — well, you do what companies like KFC, Coca-Cola, Kraft, McDonald's and all the rest have done since the dawn of the free market. You convince the less educated and the gullible that they are wrong, that this crap is actually a good value for your family, nutritious and safe to feed to children, even as you manufacture all the flavours, smells and meat-like textures in a giant lab and sell truckloads of the crap to the poorer classes, until they get fat and sick and die.”

JETSETCD, Jaunted.com: “We see something powerful in this overpriced fast food item (it's $5.99 for one!). We see America... Even though Korean fried chicken tastes a thousand times better, no one can deny the patriotic appeal of fried chicken. Combine fried chicken with bacon, good old processed cheese, a dash of mystery (the ‘Colonel's Sauce'), and the US' love of upsizing and transforming foods into the fattiest, tastiest concoctions possible, and you have a winner.”

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